A sequoia tree grows in Paris : NPR
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
In more than a decade of walking in my favorite Parisian park, I have never noticed it.
A real California redwood, here at Parc des Buttes Chaumont. The park, a former landfill, transformed under Napoleon III into one of the greenest getaways in the French capital.
In August, a friend finally pointed it out to me. We were sprawled out on the grass on a perfect Sunday afternoon when I mentioned an upcoming trip to Sequoia National Park in California.
“Well, you know we have a redwood tree here?!” she said, pointing to an imposing tree that looked nothing like the others.
I still can’t say for sure who planted it. The tree was planted around the time the park opened in 1867, and it is likely the work of either Adolphe Alphand, who oversaw the construction of Butte Chaumont, or Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, the city’s head gardener at the time.
Whoever made it probably didn’t foresee how tall a redwood tree could reach. This redwood, now more than 100 feet tall, may be the tallest tree in Paris – and it’s still a baby.
It has cousins almost three times its size. The famous General Sherman tree in California is believed to be approximately 2,000 years old and approximately 275 feet tall.
Although General Sherman may have won the height game (for now), there is something remarkable about gazing at this lone redwood tree in a northeast corner of Paris – with the famous buildings of urban visionary Georges-Eugène Haussmann stretching into the distance behind it.
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